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Sensors

Microwave Photon Detectors Based on Semiconducting Double Quantum Dots

Alberto Ghirri, Samuele Cornia, M. Affronte

Published Jul 19, 2020• 25 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Detectors of microwave photons find applications in different fields ranging from security to cosmology. Due to the intrinsic difficulties related to the detection of vanishingly small energy quanta ℏ ω , significant portions of the microwave electromagnetic spectrum are still uncovered by suitable techniques. No prevailing technology has clearly emerged yet, although different solutions have been tested in different contexts. Here, we focus on semiconductor quantum dots, which feature wide tunability by external gate voltages and scalability for large architectures. We discuss possible pathways for the development of microwave photon detectors based on photon-assisted tunneling in semiconducting double quantum dot circuits. In particular, we consider implementations based on either broadband transmission lines or resonant cavities, and we discuss how developments in charge sensing techniques and hybrid architectures may be beneficial for the development of efficient photon detectors in the microwave range.

DOI
10.3390/s20144010

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Detectors of microwave photons find applications in different fields ranging from security to cosmology. Due to the intrinsic difficulties related to the detection of vanishingly small energy quanta ℏ ω , significant portions of the microwave electromagnetic spectrum are still uncovered by suitable techniques. No prevailing technology has clearly emerged yet, although different solutions have been tested in different contexts. Here, we focus on semiconductor quantum dots, which feature wide tunability by external gate voltages and scalability for large architectures. We discuss possible pathways for the development of microwave photon detectors based on photon-assisted tunneling in semiconducting double quantum dot circuits. In particular, we consider implementations based on either broadband transmission lines or resonant cavities, and we discuss how developments in charge sensing techniques and hybrid architectures may be beneficial for the development of efficient photon detectors in the microwave range.
High-efficiency single-photon detection in the microwave domain is a key enabling technology for various quantum applications. However, the extremely low energy of microwave photons presents a fundamental challenge, preventing direct photon-to-charge conversion as achieved in optical systems using semiconductors. Here, we demonstrate continuous microwave photon detection with an efficiency approaching 70% in the single-photon regime. We use a hybrid system comprising a gate-defined double quantum dot (DQD) charge qubit in a gallium arsenide/aluminum gallium arsenide heterostructure, coupled to a high-impedance Josephson junction array cavity. We systematically optimize the hybrid architecture to maximize the detection efficiency by leveraging strong charge-photon coupling, tunable DQD tunnel rates, and the frequency tunability of both subsystems. The system efficiency is characterized over a frequency range of 3 to 5.2 gigahertz. Our results establish semiconductor-based cavity-quantum electrodynamics architectures as a scalable and versatile platform for efficient microwave photon detection, opening promising avenues for quantum microwave optics and quantum information technologies.
High-efficiency single-photon detection in the microwave domain is a key enabling technology for various quantum applications. However, the extremely low energy of microwave photons presents a fundamental challenge, preventing direct photon-to-charge conversion as achieved in optical systems using semiconductors. Here, we demonstrate continuous microwave photon detection with an efficiency approaching 70% in the single-photon regime. We use a hybrid system comprising a gate-defined double quantum dot (DQD) charge qubit in a gallium arsenide/aluminum gallium arsenide heterostructure, coupled to a high-impedance Josephson junction array cavity. We systematically optimize the hybrid architecture to maximize the detection efficiency by leveraging strong charge-photon coupling, tunable DQD tunnel rates, and the frequency tunability of both subsystems. The system efficiency is characterized over a frequency range of 3 to 5.2 gigahertz. Our results establish semiconductor-based cavity-quantum electrodynamics architectures as a scalable and versatile platform for efficient microwave photon detection, opening promising avenues for quantum microwave optics and quantum information technologies.
Motivated by recent interest in implementing circuit quantum electrodynamics with semiconducting quantum dots, we consider a double quantum dot (DQD) capacitively coupled to a superconducting resonator that is driven by the microwave field of a superconducting transmission line. We analyze the DQD current response using input-output theory and show that the resonator-coupled DQD is a sensitive microwave single photon detector. Using currently available experimental parameters of DQD-resonator coupling and dissipation, including the effects of 1/f1/f1/f charge noise and phonon noise, we determine the parameter regime for which incident photons are completely absorbed and near-unit $\ensuremath{\gtrsim}98$% efficiency can be achieved. We show that this regime can be reached by using very high quality resonators with quality factor $Q\ensuremath{\simeq}{10}^{5}$.
The ability to detect single photons makes it possible to investigate the quantum properties of light and to implement strategies for quantum cryptography and quantum communications with single photons as the information carriers. To date, photon detectors have come in two guises: They can be designed either for sensitivity at a single energy or over a broad range of energies, but neither option has offered on-chip tunability of the detected wavelength. Gustavsson et al. now describe a frequency-tunable single-photon detector for the microwave regime using a double quantum dot structure. They are able to shift the discrete energy levels of one dot with respect to the other by application of appropriate gate voltages. Using time-resolved charge detection techniques, they can then directly relate the detection of a tunneling electron to the absorption of a single photon, the energy of which corresponds to the tuned energy-level separation between the two dots. — ISO
We present a continuous microwave photon counter based on superconducting cavity-coupled semiconductor quantum dots. The device utilizes photon-assisted tunneling in a double quantum dot with tunneling events being probed by a third dot. Our device detects both single and multiple-photon absorption events independently, thanks to the energy tunability of a two-level double-dot absorber. We show that the photon-assisted tunnel rates serve as the measure of the cavity photon state in line with the P(E) theory-a theoretical framework delineating the mediation of the cavity photon field via a two-level absorber. We further describe the single photon detection using the Jaynes-Cummings input-output theory and show that it agrees with the P(E) theory predictions at a low-power regime.
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